#6 - Izaya Tiji - "I drink blood" (prod. Souljaspirits)
Flashy bars and aggressive voices are so fetishized in rap/pop that it can be almost off-putting to hear someone as wispy and understated as Izaya Tiji, whose music sometimes sounds like Young Thug warbling and muttering in a library. I love how he uses filters and melodic layering to make gleaming fractals out of his voice. On songs like “Visiting,” his ASMR-soft quavers shimmer with reverb, the lyrics so indistinct his voice becomes a specter of gaseous falsetto, like an echo with no origin, a sonic hieroglyph. Even his more kinetic tracks like “I drink blood” are cautious and fragile, the melodies rippling like holographic cardstock. Souljaspirits’ beat is one of the most gorgeously haunting I’ve heard, the perfect habitat for Izaya’s billowing cries and threats.
The list:
#25 - Destroy Lonely - “NOSTYLIST”
#24 - elusin - “Elksling”
#23 - skaiwater - “#miles”
#22 - Wednesday - “Bull Believer”
#21 - islurwhenitalk - “pink neon lights”
#20 - Two Shell - “home” & “Memory” (tie)
#19 - Luci4 - “ON GANG”
#18 - Harto Falión - “{*______*}” (prod. evilgiane, whitearmor, Gud)
#17 - lecie - “ex post facto”
#16 - Yung Lean ft. FKA twigs - “Bliss”
#15 - DJ:ReCode - “adhd” ft. tobre & “keeper” ft. goji! & BIO (tie)
#14 - Uffie - “dominoes”
#13 - Yeat - “Still countin” & “Out thë way” (tie)
#12 - Ame - "Degree" (prod. Royal, y2tnb, Brycenknwn, Ame)
#11 - Sudan Archives - “ChevyS10”
#10 - Asian Doll ft. Bandmanrill - "Get Jumped" & Bandmanrill - "BANDTHOVEN" (tie)
#9 - Nilüfer Yanya - "stabilise" / "chase me" (tie)